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📢 New preprint out now! In three samples (N=594), including a U.S.-representative cohort and a test-retest cohort, we formalize social motivation, learning, and homeostatic control within a single computational framework and identify a phenotype linked to chronic loneliness doi.org/10.31234/osf...

Loneliness continues to be a major public health problem. The abundance of social cues (i.e., afforded by social media) may lead to a mismatch between expectations about social connection & reality. Here, we examined how social expectations shape social craving (the desire to connect with others)

Using computational modeling, we show that social craving rises with social cues, shifts when social outcomes are better or worse than expected, and regulated around a person-specific setpoint. Model parameters were moderately stable after one week and one month! doi.org/10.31234/osf...